ONE Championship boss Chatri Sityodtong blasts ‘boldfaced liar, steroid cheat’ Istela Nunes for Angela Lee claim
- Nunes, who now fights in the UFC, recently claimed ONE atomweight champ Lee missed weight for their 2017 title fight
- Chatri gives a blunt response when the Brazilian’s words are put to him by Ariel Helwani on ‘The MMA Hour’
The Brazilian (7-2, 1 no contest), now fighting in the UFC, lost to “Unstoppable” Lee (10-2) via second-round submission in Singapore.
But she claimed in an October interview with MMA Fighting that Asian promotion ONE “screwed” her out of 30 per cent of Lee’s purse, and that the champ had stepped on the scales at 58 kilograms, missing weight by 2.8 pounds.
ONE has previously denied any suggestion atomweight champion Lee missed weight for the main event of the Dynasty of Heroes event.
Asked by Ariel Helwani in an appearance on The MMA Hour what he made of Nunes’ claims, Chatri gave a blunt response.
“I mean, she’s a boldfaced liar,” Chatri said on Wednesday’s episode. “She’s also a steroid cheat.”
UFC’s White ‘doesn’t know anything about fighting’, Chatri says
Nunes failed a drugs test in August 2019 and was pulled from a UFC Fight Night event in Mexico City. She tested positive for multiple steroid metabolites, and later accepted a two-year suspension by Usada.
The 25-year-old Canadian-American Lee will return after nearly two and a half years out on March 26 when she defends her title against atomweight grand prix winner Stamp Fairtex.
She has not fought since a fifth-round submission of Xiong Jingnan in October 2019, giving birth to her first child in April 2021 and returning to training two months later.
